--- title: "Tesla Sucked Up Federal Funding for Supercharger Network Before Firing Whole Department" description: "As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Tesla received millions of dollars to beef up its Supercharger network." date: "2024-05-01" modified: "2024-05-01" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-federal-funding-supercharger-network" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "elon musk" - "evs" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Tesla Sucked Up Federal Funding for Supercharger Network Before Firing Whole Department ![As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Tesla received millions of dollars to beef up its Supercharger network.]() *\Image: Beata Zawrzel / NurPhoto via Getty / Futurism\* ## Cut and Run Tesla shocked the auto industry this week after its CEO Elon Musk [fired the entire 500 person team]() working on its vaunted Supercharger network, a project that's considered instrumental in facilitating EV adoption across the country with its quick and convenient charging stations. But there's another interesting detail to this story: as [pointed out by *Jalopnik*](), citing previous [reporting by *Politico*](), before Tesla backed down from the project, it had received more than $17 million in federal grants for its Supercharger network. In fact, the automaker is the biggest winner of the EV push in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by President Joe Biden — whom Musk is a [frequent critic of]() — earning 13 percent of all EV charging awards. That Tesla is now ditching or at least significantly scaling back the network — signaled by the layoffs and its [backing out of Supercharger location leases]() — is eyebrow-raising, to say the least. ## Cash Cow Yet as far as benefiting from big government money goes, $17 million is a drop in the bucket for Musk, who's [publicly criticized]() — if not smeared — other entities, including *NPR,* for receiving such funding. SpaceX alone, arguably Musk's most successful venture, has received more than [$15.3 billion worth of government contracts]() since 2003, most of which is from NASA. But it also continues to earn quite a bit from the Department of Defense; *Reuters* [reported]() last month that SpaceX, as part of a staggering $1.8 billion contract signed with the DoD in 2021, was building a spy satellite network for a US intelligence agency. ## Slow Death Musk's culling of the Supercharging team could raise questions about how those federal grants are being put to use. The decision is especially puzzling given that Tesla's charging network is by far the largest in the country. It's so dominant, in fact, that other automakers like Rivian and Ford have adopted Tesla's NCAS charging standard.They may be regretting that now. Still, amid [reported confusion]() [among automakers](), Musk [took to X-formerly-Twitter]() to assure that he wasn't fully giving up on the program. "Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100 percent uptime and expansion of existing locations," he said. Even if Musk is telling the truth here, firing your entire department seems like overkill. Who's left holding the bag? Well, we know who's holding the one stuffed full of federal money, at least. **More on Tesla:** *[Tesla Rewards Dedicated Worker Who Showered at Factory and Slept in His Car by Firing Him]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()